NASCAR bars Kyle Busch for rest of Texas weekend

NASCAR bars Kyle Busch for rest of Texas weekend

November 5th, 2011by Associated Press in Local Regional News

FORT WORTH, Texas - Kyle Busch finally went too far for NASCAR, even in the era of "Boys, have at it."

The often volatile Busch was barred from driving in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races at Texas this weekend, a rare step taken by NASCAR after he deliberately wrecked championship contender Ron Hornaday Jr. during a caution in the Truck Series race there.

NASCAR President Mike Helton announced the decision Saturday after a meeting with Busch and Joe Gibbs, his Sprint Cup and Nationwide car owner.

"The responsibility that over the past two or three seasons we've given back to the drivers came I think with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed," Helton said. "And as annoying as the comments that I've made personally in the past about we'll know it when we see it might have been, we saw it last night."

Busch is the first driver since Robby Gordon in August 2007 to be taken out of a Cup race for actions in another NASCAR race the same weekend. Kevin Harvick, the owner of Hornaday's truck, was kept out of the Cup race at Martinsville in 2002 after an incident in a truck race there the previous day.

"This is a tough situation for us and basically what we're trying to do is go through it the right way," Gibbs said. "Everybody here with our race team is trying to meet with everybody that was affected by this and obviously we've got a lot of work to do there and a lot of people to see. But we're going to try to go through this and try to handle everything in the right way."

Michael McDowell will take over in Sunday's race for Busch, who was seventh in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings.